For high-volume applications that have specific interface requirements, different price/power/quality goals, or less demanding performance, Aspex can create a custom derivative or package variant of the Q platform as a complete turnkey project.

By taking advantage of the scalable ASProCore technology used in Q, the video compression engine can easily be scaled up or down to support whatever resolution, frame rate, codec and quality point is required by your application, while retaining all the benefits of a flexibile, software-programmable architecture.

The on-chip memory subsystem can then be optimised to meet quality, power and cost goals.  Customer specific-logic, such as image sensor preprocessing functions, can readily be integrated into the platform using industry-standard AMBA interfaces.

A wide variety of Audio, Video and system Interfaces can then be added or subtracted in order to create your ideal System-on-Chip, delivering optimal system cost, size and power.

Example applications

Typical high-volume applications that could take advantage of a customized platform include:

• HD webcams
• Optimised wireless HDMI dongles and adapters
• 720p30 HD cameraphones

The figure below shows an example of a custom platform derived from Q, as used in a HD webcam.

The input interfaces have been reduced to a single video and single audio channel, with direct connection to the image sensor and a digital microphone. The video compression engine has been scaled to offer a single channel of low-latency, full-HD compression, while the lower performance requirements of the Audio subsystem allow it to be combined with the software programmable System Stream Processor to further reduce die size.

On the output side, USB 2.0 and Ethernet interfaces provide direct connection to the PC or networking chipset, to support applications such as wireless surveillance cameras.

The video memory requirements have been optimised to incorporate sufficient memory for 720p encoding on-chip, with an optional external DDR2 memory to support 1080p operation.

Further Information

To discuss opportunities for customized Q derivatives, please contact us directly.